"What a great site! I'm impressed by the great stuff you've pulled together. It merely confirms my long-held belief that economics CAN be interesting....
All the best"-
Charlie Wheelan,
aka The Naked Economist

Saturday, April 09, 2011

The (Almost) Federal Government Shutdown

There are, of course, problems with this.
First is that the deal is a short term solution, a continuing resolution (CR) for six months. That brings us to next October. So we are going to continue our politics of constant crisis. This phenomena is really the transformational element of the way we conduct politics, and thus government in the last twenty years. A crisis, real or imagined,
The second issue is that this illustrated the biggest problem with our political moment. Once again, social issue warfare so sucked up the air in this circular firing squad that the real issue is ignored.

With people like John Kyl spreading misinformation like PP using 90% of its budget on abortion services, it is no wonder that people are outraged at mis-allocation of taxpayer resources. The problem is that is just isn't remotely true.

No, the big problem is how this is yet another example of the political showdown as continual crisis, and how social issues once again have been used by legislators in service to the disproportionately powerful in this country. Keep the regular folk confused, frightened and at war with each other over issues presented disingenuously or worse through the Big Lie. Give the people Panem et Circenses, and they will never ask a thing, or notice for that matter.

Links

What I am up to here...

Please Note: This site is for personal use, and it is in no way an assignment for any of my courses. Although my students should feel free to use this site, they are not the primary audience. Rather, I want to get back to what I have been intending to write about seriously for some time, issues that are close to my heart and on my mind every day... As far as my students are concerned, I think the most important thing I can do is present thought provoking material to them in as unbiased a fashion as possible, and let them hash out their rough outlines of an opinion. Now I can see the use of this bully pulpit (albeit small) in presenting the things I still have a passion about: the fate of our democratic government in light of the past forty year neo conservative ressurection and the systematic stagnation of middle class standard of living; the hijacking of a reasonable opposition political party and its transformation into shrieking cabal of reactionaries; education with emphasis on the creative use of technology and the positive application of best practices; pastrami and the pursuit of the perfect hamburger; social justice for ALL Americans, not casinos in restoration at a convenient political moment; and consistent libertarianism, not a hypocritical intrusion via a social agenda into my daughters' uteruses. Students discover that Economics is much more than what they thought when they walked into the class for the first time, and maybe when theystumble accross this blog as well The field of Economics presents such great models that challenge learned wisdom, that is has intrinsic value right there. Finally, it is also a way that some (much actually) of the random information that makes this field so interesting can be put in one spot. Perhaps this effort will turn one or two kids into aspiring economists, and if that is the case, then the time and effort is totally worth it.